Political Judgement
Isaiah Berlin
00:00
The Science of Society Is More Like Anatomy Than Pathology
The natural sciences acquired enormous prestige, and attempts were made to maintain that anything that couldn't be reduced to natural science shouldn't properly be called knowledge at all. The scientifically inclined philosophers of t eighteenth century believed most passionately in just such laws. They tried to account for human behavior wholly in terms of the effects of education, of natural environment and of the play of appetites and passions. But they failed so conspicuously to predict and analyze such major phenomena as the growth and violence of nationalism or conflicts between various cultures. Each of these new nineteenth century apostles laid some claim to exclusive possession of the truth.
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